Royal Saskatchewan Museum: Research: FAQS: Aboriginal History Unit: What is archaeology?

FAQS: Aboriginal History Unit

What is archaeology?

No Dinos

First of all, archaeologists do not do dinosaurs! (There, I feel much better for having said that.) Archaeologists study human history by studying the physical remains that people have left behind.

Remains include:

· artifacts
These include arrowheads, pot sherds, scraping and cutting tools, and even tin cans and farm machinery parts.

arrowhead

Tipi Rings

· features
These include hearths (fireplaces), the remains of living structures (e.g., stone circles or house foundations), activity areas such as the cluster of flakes left from making stone tools.

· food remains These can be bones left behind in a fire place or seeds recovered from the inside of a pot.

Archaeologists also must study the context of the site and the artifacts. They do this by examining soils to see how the site was formed, by studying the geography of the region to determine where the best places were to live, hunt, garden, fish, or farm, and by extracting seeds or pollen that will provide information about past vegetation and climate.

archaeologists at work

Archaeologists also use a lot of specialized scientific analytical techniques:

· linear accelerators to date artifacts

· chemical analyses to identify clay sources, what meats or plants were cooked in a pot, or blood traces left on points and knives

For further information contact the Curator of Aboriginal History

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